The Bakkes adventure

Making our li'l place 'Blue' friendly...

2012-01-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

Izak started back at TMS again yesterday! It is hard to believe that it is the beginning of the new semester.

We have made some changes to our space in order to accommodate Blue. Amazingly, by God's grace, our space actually feels bigger now after making space for the little one! Go figure! :)

Another thing that Izak and I realised recently was that we have literally been given everything that we have for Blue! We have not spent a cent apart from the fabric storage bins that we bought to keep his things in! What a remarkable testimony of our God's faithfulness!

Here is an action pic of Izak in the midst of building the bookcases (which we managed to find on sale at Target!) Yay for Target!

Here are some pics of the changes: (We had thought that we may need to take the couch out of our home in order to make space for the little one, but we are so thankful that we could keep it as it fits in a different corner!)

Here are the assembled bookcases with Blue's things stored in the fabric storage bins: (Note the South African flag sent by family ... on the bookcase- Blue will have no doubt that He is South African... or African American at the very least... :) )

My friend Rebecca made us an African LION storage box for some of Blue's things:

Izak had the amazing idea of changing a full sized bookshelf into a 'stand on his desk' bookcase and it works sooo well!

People have shown us such kindness! We are so thankful to the Lord for the support that we have received! Gifts, thoughtful messages, parcels from family and friends back home... the list goes on... It has been so encouraging to see how it has gone far beyond our needs being met and we can honestly say that we have more than simply 'just enough'!

We got sent a package from friends and family in Jeffreys Bay (also from Jeffreys Bay Bible Church...) and that was so precious to open on Christmas day! It really helps make us feel like we are not THAT far away from home... In the package, Heleen (Izak's sister...) had sent a mobile that she had made herself. The amazing thing is that I had not even mentioned the desire for an 'Africa' baby theme. Here are some pics of the mobile- we plan to hang it next to the cradle...

The Frields let us use their beautiful cradle, which they used for their last born son... so special. And... as the Lord would have it, it fits perfectly into our little space!
Here are some pics of the cradle, and notice how the bedding is perfect for the African theme!

Then, a few nights ago, friends brought us an envelope with the most thoughtful idea- they had printed out some Scriptures on a page and then stapled some little envelopes to the page with specific treat ideas and the money to make them happen! It was such an exciting gift and we have already had a pizza party! :) ... there were even gift cards for two ice cream places which I have been eyeing out for quite a while now, and had even told Izak that we should try out before heading back to SA! It was so encouraging because our landladies have offered to babysit Blue and now we may actually have something to go and do one evening! :)

We have our baby bouncer set up for when the little one arrives:

And... even have the beginning of our hospital bag packed! (Note the fun penguin hat and mittens a friend got us from Baby Gap... I plan to put those on him when we travel back from the hospital! It is quite chilly here at the moment...)

The most amazing part of expecting Blue has been to see the support that we have received from everyone! It has been so encouraging to see how not only family, but the church has reached out to us and made it such a precious time! It reminds me of that passage in John 13:35, which says, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

So, with Africa and acts of love in mind... I end off this blog post with a song in my head, from the movie 'The Lion King', .... "Can you feel the love... tonight?..." :)

His grace is sufficient for us.

Merry Christmas festivities...

2011-12-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that it has been our SECOND Christmas in Los Angeles! It is fun to think back to how different things seemed last Christmas when we had only been here for a few months! Things seem way more familiar now even though we miss friends and family just as much!

We had planned to have Christmas dinner with some seminary friends but Izak was so sick with flu that we had to give going out a skip and instead rest at home. Despite this, we were still fairly festive!
The Steins brought us a little Christmas tree to use this year... (It is the same one that Wynand and Delila used when they were here!)

Look at how sweet the little miniature ornaments are:

We had a couple of packages from back home which we could put next to the tree!

Pat (our landlady put up some fun Christmas lights for us outside our home!)

And even let us use one of their wreaths!

Then... on Christmas eve... we heard a knock on our door and and found no-one there, only these beautiful home-made stockings that Ina (our other landlady) had made for us- stuffed full of fun goodies!

We had such a fun Christmas despite not feeling 100%... we opened our gifts from home (will put up some pics of some of the things we received in a later post...those that have not been eaten yet!) and also we got to speak to family over skype which was such a blessing! And to top it all off... Pat and Ina brought us some Christmas dinner which just added to the day's gaiety!

We hope that you also had a lovely day with family! It just blows my mind to think that Jesus came to earth as a baby- the humility of that action is so powerful (Phil. 2:6-8). I think it hits home even more so now, with us expecting Blue! What a blessing to be expecting a little one over the Christmas season...

Lots of love!
Your festive LA Bakkes'

Blue's shower at Lynette's, An African rocking chair and Whitney's surprise birthday bash!

2011-12-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

Izak wrote his final Hebrew Exegesis exam this morning and he has one more exam to write today and our third semester will be O-ver! It is hard to believe that this is my last semester being a student alongside Izak at TMS! It has been so much fun and I am so thankful for a year and a half of solid studying and learning! What an incredible opportunity!

A couple of weeks back my friend, Emily Joki held a Baby Shower for Blue at Lynette's house. It was such an encouraging experience and I am still pretty close to tears when I consider the love and fellowship from that morning!
You'll be pleased to know that I have pictures to assist with the telling of this story!
First of all... the Botes' home was so beautifully decorated! It was incredibly festive and fun! Here are some pictures of the decor:

And... GUESS WHO SURPRISED us with a visit all the way from San Jose???? The Gillies! I was so blown away that I cried... TWICE! They are such a precious couple and their love blows me away!
Here I am squeezing Mary Gillies with some serious South African love! It made it feel like I had family there!

Look at the tasty food selection:

Here is one of Brenda Frields (my EWG leader and on the left) and Christine Dixon on the right (many of you heard about her through the amazingly encouraging emails she sent us when we were applying to come to TMS)...

Here are Christina and Brenda from our Mainstream Fellowship Group's Bible Study:

Meet two sweeet Sem wives and their new little one's:
Jessie and little Judah:

And... Rebecca and Adonias:

It was such a blessing to have all these special ladies in the same room at the same time! Life in LA can be so busy and it is rare to find moments like these...
Here is one of me with Pat and Ina (our precious land-ladies):

This is my friend - Emily Joki, who organised the shower:

Whitney and I (Whitney took the pics...)

And dear hospitable Lynette (So pleased that it was at her home!)

Emily read a beautiful and inspiring letter to me...

And then all the ladies prayed for Izak, Blue and I: (This was so sweet and a real highlight for me!)

Then... to the gifts! And there were soooo many!

Ending off with the unveiling of an African-looking rocking chair... and matching footstool from a few of the ladies!

We are so blessed! We have been given such lovely gifts and such precious friendship while here. It really is incredible to see how the body is so loving and that the Lord provides such encouragement and blessing through His body!
It did not take long for me to get Izak to set up the rocking chair and the foot stool! I believe it was that same evening! (I love it when he does DIY type things- he can really pull it off!)

And then... Whitney's surprise birthday bash! Her husband Jason, organised some of her friends to come round as a surprise and it was fun to hear how surprised she was! (Rebecca and I travelled together and the traffic was an absolute nightmare- so we weren't part of the initial 'surprise crowd'!)
Here Whitney is... with some of her friends:

Jason (Whitney's husband...)
Making some AMA-zing home-made Pizza! Mmmmmm.

And the Wii games kept a constant crowd entertained!

Well! If you have made it this far, you are in need of a prize! Hehe. Thanks for reading! It has been a fun but very busy time and I hope to have more news soon!
Please feel free to leave comments and let us know about your news!

The Bakkes'!

Thanksgiving with newlyweds, Breakfast in Marina Del Rey and a walk on the beach...

2011-11-28T18:16:00.001-08:00

We have just had a lovely Thanksgiving 'break'. You'll be pleased to know that it wasn't entirely fun-free! We shared Thanksgiving day with Brian and Polly and we have pictures to prove it! Brian and Polly only got married on the 29th of October and I documented their special day a few blog posts back... So imagine our delight to be able to share their first official Thanksgiving as a married couple!
Here is a picture of a sign they had up on their bookcase: :)

They have already made their home so 'welcoming'... love this pic of the two of them!

Plus, the American Football was on: (which is typical for Thanksgiving day, I believe...)

The table set:

Here are the newly weds in action doing the final preparations:

Then, to sit down and enjoy the feast:

Our lovely hosts:

Then, on Saturday, we were invited by friends of ours whose family own a restaurant and we got to go to the 'test run' for the reopening of the restaurant after four months of refurbishments! The restaurant is called J Nichols Kitchen and it is in Marina Del Rey, which is close to the LA Airport (LAX) and +- 40 minutes drive away from where we live. The J Nichols Restaurant reminded us so much of JBay's InFood! We felt a bit like we had made our way to Jeffreys Bay in 40 minutes!

So, the deal was that we had a limited selection on a menu but that it was FREE! Wow- what incredible food. Seriously- I had a breakfast BLT and it had the most lovely flavour combinations. Izak had a more traditional breakfast, but even his scrambled eggs were exceptionally tasty! What a real treat. Nothing like an incredible breakfast to start the day!

After the breakfast, we headed down the coast for a little drive. Here is a little map showing the area that we were in:

These are some pics from our drive:

And then, here are some pics from our walk:

It was such a beautiful day and it really helped us feel like we had gotten away! Being outside and breathing in fresh ocean air just does something to our souls!

Psalm 8:3-4, "When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?"

Thanks for reading!

Sem Wives Baby Shower, Fall Salad Supper and Shootin' some hoops!

2011-11-18T10:23:00.001-08:00

Well, the 'Thanksgiving Break' is just about here and just as Izak's schedule gets more hectic than ever- our Sem Wives groups and EWG groups have had our final meetings for this semester. This semester has been an incredible blessing and also extremely busy!

Here are two new pics that Izak took of 'the bump' and Blue's development. We only have 11 weeks to go!

My Sem Wives table held a little Baby Shower for me at our table's get-together at Gregg and Betsy Harris' home. (Dr. Harris is our Professor for the study of the Gospel of Mark- AMA-zing study!)
Here are some pictures from the Baby Shower, this last Saturday-

First, we played this really cool game (typically not that excited about games- but Betsy was really creative and it was a memory game, where you need to try and remember what words are behind certain numbers and then try and match them from memory when it is your turn...) Here is the board mostly cleared:

She was also very creative with the prizes associated with the words which made it even more fun! (It was interesting to see the associations that she came up with especially since the prizes were American chocolates etc and many of them I had never seen or heard of before..) As an example- one of the words to be matched was, 'College fund' and then the prize was the chocolate called 'Pay Day'. There were even better ones that I cannot remember right now but we had some good laughs! You can see evidence of this in the below picture:

Also- the lady receiving the prize above, is Tim Cantrell's mom-in-law, Mary Somerville, who is a good friend of Izak's brother and sister-in-law! Tim is also a TMS grad who is a pastor of a church in Johannesburg at the moment. I just loved that Mary happened to be at our Sem Wives table, as a prayer partner. (I just love to see how the Lord orchestrates things like that because the Sem Wives total group is so big, I would not have met her had it not been for her being a part of our table). Mary and I had such fun chats about South Africa etc. since she has visited 9 times! What a blessing to have met her!

Then Betsy did a short devotional, which was so impacting because once again, she was very creative and had a bag of gifts for me which she used as illustrations for the points she was making... I will just mention a few of these below... (I am sure that her examples will come to mind when I use these gifts for Blue!)

As the first example, she gave me a little baby outfit and then said, "Clothe your child in prayer. Pray daily for him. Nothing will fit better, be more in season, or more suitable for your little boy to be clothed in your prayers..." Here is one of me receiving the outfit:

Also, she gave me some Baby Blocks and said, "Give your child the building blocks of character that he'll need throughout life..." And here is one of me receiving the blocks:

It was such a blessed morning, and I received a little something from all the ladies that came... I love this Baby bath- shaped like a whale with bath-time toys! Wish they came in bigger sizes! hehe.

It was such an encouraging time and I felt truly spoiled! Betsy is super talented in the food arena too and I really enjoyed these cupcakes (AND everything else on the table!)

Then, for our final Sem Wives time together this last Wednesday evening, each table brought some food and spent time chatting! It was great fun. Here are some pictures of our table, food and fellowship:
I actually brought this Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad below- it tasted better once the ingredients had time to settle. I got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman cooks website (her recipes are generally very good!) Here is the link in case you are interested: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=tomato+pasta+salad&submit= (I also kept the olives separate...)

Betsy and Kate (right to left)

Emily (she is also expecting and we have become good friends! She lives just down the road from us...) and Ann (right to left)

Our whole table- from right to left: Nelly, Betsy, Kate, Pinqui, Dawn, Ann, Emily and me!

And, then finally! Pheew! Izak had the ingenious plan to ask our neighbour if we could use his basketball hoop in order to have something fun to do outdoors as a study break. It has been such a joy creating our own form of South African Basketball! I have loved it and enjoyed being outdoors more! Plus it can prove to be quite a workout! It is literally right outside our house- in the little quiet alley way and so it is the perfect setting for shootin' them hoops! hehe.

Well, we hope that you feel like you have come round for some rooibos tea/coffee ... and rusks plus a good catch up!

We look forward to a time of catching up (getting caught up on as much work as possible) during the Thanksgiving Break, which is next week! I hope to post some more pictures fairly soon! We have been invited to share Thanksgiving with our recently married friends- Brian and Polly! Looking forward to that, for sure! There is really so much to be thankful for. It is almost unreal.

Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"

Until next time! Adios from LA!

Autumn in LA, wedding bells and more gifts for Blue!

2011-11-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

We are almost at the Thanksgiving break again and it is hard to believe how quickly this semester has gone by!

We had the privilege of going to Brian and Polly's wedding on the 29th of October and it was such a lovely wedding. It was especially memorable since we have known Brian even before he and Polly started dating and it feels like we have witnessed the whole process! Sooo romantic! :) Here are a few pics taken of their celebration, with my 'not so good' camera:

They insisted that the guests take some of the hanging decorations home... (it helps keep the festivities going!) Here are ours up in our little home:

Then, my sweetest grandparents sent us a little package for Blue... Makes home feel a little closer.

My gran has always had a way with words, and she had penned a little poem (which has gone into his baby album...) In case you cannot read it clearly, it says, "A small gift in blue, for someone brand new, Oh the pride and the joy, in this fine Bakkes boy!" Awwwww! It really made my day. :)

Here is another one of the expanding bump:

People have been so kind to us! We have received little packages with diapers (US) / nappies (SA). It is really encouraging to see how the Lord is providing for us! Here is a recent package that we received with some baby things:

Also, the dear Gillies sent us an IN-N-OUT treat...

Then, meet my Sem Wives group: Betsy Harris- ( in the middle with orange on...) is our table leader and Mary Somerville is our prayer partner (on the far left with green on...)

Well, this is just a quick update of our latest news... Hope to have more news shortly! Thanks for reading!

A tour of Izak's office, Marmite, Nando's seasoning, Blue's newest things...

2011-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

As you know, the semester is on-the-go! It has been incredibly busy but also a wonderful blessing!

Izak is registered for the following classes this semester:
- Hebrew Exegesis (Dr. Barrick)
- The Gospel of Mark (Dr. Harris)
- Historical Theology (Dr. Busenitz)
- Old Testament Studies (Dr. Essex)
- Church Ministries (Bill Shannon and other teachers)
- D-Lab with Lance Quinn

Firstly, I wanted to show you a few things that I am so grateful for... I have missed Marmite so much (you don't find it in the typical stores here) and Whitney found me this huge jar which is perfect for my pregnancy cravings!

Then, Lynette gave Blue these cute little outfits: I really love how boy'ish they are and it also rekindled a childhood love for bulldozers that I had long forgotten! Yay for little boys!

Last year, the JBBC (Jeffreys Bay Bible Church) ladies sent us a package with all sorts of little treats and one of the things was this Nando's seasoning... I am saving it for a particularly 'home-sick day' and now we are living in the expectation of 'that' something good that is yet to happen!

Then, here are some recent 'bump development' pics:

Now for the tour of Izak's office area:
This is the entrance to his office... (He shares an office with a very sweet girl- called Shannon Pile...)

Here he is at his desk on a Saturday- hence the shorts and t-shirt...

Then, let us take a quick walk up the passage way: (All the doors that you can see lead to offices...)

This is the copy room, plus an exit to reach the main reception area:

Then... my personal favourite... the kitchen and all the promises that a kitchen brings! :)

Then, below is a picture from outside Izak's office, and if you look down the passage, you can see two doors... The one on the left is John Macarthur's... All this to say that this really is a blessed opportunity to rub shoulders with men who have such integrity and to learn as much as he possibly can during this experience! (Although truth be told, Macarthur works more from home anyway, but there are other godly and devoted men that Izak has been able to meet through working for Grace Advance...)

We are still so thankful for this opportunity and in the midst of the busy-ness, it is clear that the Lord is faithfully working in both our lives. The Scripture from Philippians 1:6, really brings such encouragement, "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

We look forward to hearing from you!

On your mark... Get set.... GO!

2011-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

And... we are back at seminary for our third semester at TMS! We have a professor who begins each class with saying, "And it's off to the races!" and then he begins his quick-moving class. I think our semester will be quite similar! Izak is doing more credit hours than what he has ever done before! So please keep him in your prayers this semester.

This post is going to be purposed to show you some things that I have been meaning to show you but the older posts have been so full that I had to wait 'til now!

We discovered that we are expecting a little BOY this last Wednesday! We are very excited!
Here is one of the baby bump at 16 weeks. (I am 18 weeks now...) It is actually a sad picture in the sense that people only started saying that they could see the baby bump a week after this shot was taken!

Shortly after discovering that we were expecting a littl'n, we phoned my grandparents and not long after having told them... we received our first baby outfit in the post! it was so precious to receive that I had to document it!
(I love the neutral colours and it says, "Tiny toes and button nose"... Awww!) It is hard to believe that a person could fit into such small clothes! Amazing! It is fitting that they are now officially GREAT grandparents! :)

I love the little 'closed feet' bottoms!

Do you remember the volleyball coaching that I did earlier this year? Well, they were so sweet and had a coaches jacket made for me! I feel so proud in my Lady Hawkes gear!

We received a fantastic birthday package in June from the Humansdorp Bakkes'! It was such a fun gift to get because many of the things were home 'enhancers' for me to hang up all over!
We received some shells from Jeffreys Bay and I made this ribbon with the various shells on it and hung it from our lamp...

I hung this from our kitchen window:

And this on the curtain rail in our bedroom:

And this in our bathroom: :)

A sem wife friend of mine, Lynette, gave me this beauty for my birthday... It really looks like it was made for our little place: (Because I LOVE stars!)

And then... finally... we got to see the Gillies again as they had come through for the Truth Matters Conference. What a treat!

We hope you enjoyed reading about all our news! We look forward to hearing from you all.

Lots of love... Your Bakkes'!

Vacation Part 3: Castello di Amorosa in Napa Valley and a tour through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park...

2011-08-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Time for PART 3 of our vacation! Be ready to be amazed by the beauty of both the Napa Valley and also the Redwoods in San Jose's Henry Cowell Redwood State Park! First, let's stop in Napa Valley to explore the incredible Castello di Amorosa: Click here to check out their site: http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/

We decided to explore Napa Valley on our way back to San Jose to spend our last days of our holiday with the Gillies... We had seen an advertisement of the 'Tuscan Castle' in a travel guide and we were so thankful to be able to go and see it!
Now for your tour: It felt like a real Tuscan castle! All the stones were imported from Europe in order to build it and it had a very 'ancient' vibe to it! When we arrived, two limo's were driving up the windy driveway ahead of us and I wondered if we had the right place! Eek! But it had a lovely down-to-earth atmosphere and they had a lovely muscadel grape juice for us to sample at the end of our tour! We could even pay less to tour since I was pregnant! :)

**Please note that you can enlarge any photos on this blog by clicking on them and then return to the blog by hitting return or going back one page...**

This wine press was imported from Tuscany and is in very good condition which is rare considering its age:

A little church in the castle:

More of the castle:

The courtyard:

This was a huge dining hall:

More of the castle... details on the walls and from the terrace:

If you pay more, (than what we did!) to tour the castle, you get to go on tours of the cellars and also get a tour guide to show and tell you all about the castle. Despite this, Izak found this in a secret locked off tunnel: (An impressive picture through a bolted gate... if you ask me!)

To do the wine-tasting or the grape-juice tasting (in our case- it was the best grape juice ever! Mmmm... It tasted so expensive! And truth be told... it was, but since we were sampling it didn't matter!) you go down to this cellar:

And... in conclusion for our castle tour... some lazy, big and FAT sheep on our way out:

Me in my first maternity blouse: :) (I got it at a sample sale and didn't realise that it was a maternity top at the time... but it has come in handy!)

And final departure pics of the Castle and vineyards:

Now... for the time in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park... We went with Mary Gillies and two of her granddaughters.
Come along!
Here is a sign from on the way:

And Izak drove Mary's faithful little car:

So beautiful... and it is just the entrance! Check out the site for more info on the Park: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=546

Here you can see a redwood marked with the different times that it lived through:

Some of the redwoods:

Mary Gillies and the girls:

Izak up in a tree!

And in a tree:

Some last ones:(You can see how little the Gillies girls look compared to the tree in the last pic!)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading such a long post! We hope that you got a glimpse of the beauty and how much we enjoyed our time away!

Lots of love,
The Bakkes THREE!

Vacation Part 2: Armstrong Redwood State National Reserve, Bodega Bay and Melk TERT!!

2011-08-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome back for PART 2 of our adventures in Northern California! The town that we were based in was called Windsor and the Armstrong State National Reserve was only +- 30 minutes away. The drive from Windsor to the Armstrong Redwoods was very scenic! With little barns, farms and vineyards! Here are a few from the drive: (You can see a vineyard next to the barn...)

Here is one of us crossing the Russian River which is the second largest river in the San Francisco Bay area (110 miles long).

Then in the little town leading to the Armstrong Redwoods... (The road's name was Armstrong Woods Road)

And here we reach the Woods:

Here is a link to check out the Armstrong Woods in more detail: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=450
The most variety of giant redwoods are found in California. So enjoy sights of these incredibly beautiful trees! We first did a very easy walk, called the Pioneer Nature trail to see some of the famous trees in this specific reserve.

Here are some fellow explorers that were along on the trail with us... It wasn't long before the little girl was asking if they were lost! hehe!

Here are some more pictures of treetops, one of me next to a HUGE tree (you have to look carefully!) and one of Izak and I being towered over by a giant redwood:

Then they have this huge tree and have marked down it's germination at 948AD! Amazing to think of all the generations that have passed while this tree stood!

A few more... In this one you can see how lovely and flat this trail was:

Look at how big this tree is! Izak fits inside quite comfortably!

We then proceeded onto the East Ridge Trail which appeared to be as easy a walk as the one we had just done... But it turned out to be pretty intense! Lots of ups and downs and we weren't wearing the right shoes... but it was beautiful and also good to see how far we could push ourselves!
Note the ups and downhills in these pics:

After completing our 'moderate' hike, we made our way to Bodega Bay... It is so interesting to see how quickly the temperature can change as soon as you head towards the coast... Watch how the fog sets in only after a few miles:

And here are some pics of the coast leading up to and in Bodega Bay... Note the dark brown sand and cliffs. It reminded me of a mix of Port Alfred, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town...

We actually found that we wished we had something warmer to wear after being so warm at the Armstrong Woods!
Here is a picture on our back to Windsor: (It reminds me of the Karoo in a way... perhaps close to Somerset East.)

And lastly, I made MILK TART and took it for a dessert for some friends to try. It tasted just like milk tart and Izak and I were very excited about that! Can you believe that we have already been away from home for almost a year exactly! This is where I found the recipe: http://www.justeasyrecipes.co.za/2009/08/27/milk-tart/
And here is the finished product:

Such an easy recipe and it makes TWO medium tarts! Bonus! Well, we hope that you enjoyed seeing another part of Northern California... We will be back with PART THREE of our vacation shortly! Keep in touch and please feel free to leave as many comments as you have time for!
Love the Bakkes three

And.... We're back!

2011-07-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

As most of you know by now, Izak and I are going to be parents!
Meet Blueberry Bakkes! (a blueberry is how big he/she was when we first had a scan!)

This is part of the reason for our recent lack of blogging... But we are BACK! The nausea seems to have subsided and my energy levels are a little higher which means back to keeping you up to date with our adventures! It feels like there is waaay too much to tell you in one post. I plan to do the trip in THREE PARTS!

Also, Izak has begun working for Grace Advance as an intern. It is a great opportunity and he is thoroughly enjoying it. Grace Advance basically assists seminary students and churches seeking a pastor to find the right match. There will be church planting initiatives too. It is a new ministry set up by Grace Church and if you would like to read up more about it check out their site: http://www.gracechurch.org/graceadvance/

Now... put on your seatbelts for PART ONE: :)

We have just returned from our very first ALL AMERICAN SUMMER VACATION! It was unbelievable! The dear Gillies got us tickets to fly up to San Jose (our little dodgy dodge is just as unreliable as ever) and our landlady Ina gave us a week's worth of her timeshare at a Worldmark resort in Windsor!

We arrived up in San Jose on July 15th and stayed in San Jose with the Gillies overnight and then they let us use Mary's faithful and super comfy bronze Toyota for our travels up to Windsor for the week.

Windsor is a little town one hour north of San Francisco. Here is one of us making it over the Golden Gate Bridge! Something interesting to note about California is how it will be so hot inland and then as soon as you reach a coastal area the temperature can drop quite rapidly and there can be a great deal of fog! (Only shortly after this picture was taken, did we reach sunny and hot Windsor which is a little more inland!)

Now for you to see the lovely place that we were booked into! WOW! Such luxury! There was a dishwasher, cable TV, gas bbq/braai, hot tub and pool just outside our condo, gas fireplace, clothes washer and drier, looots of SPACE! Let me introduce you to our luxurious Windsor abode: Here is a link if you want to check out their site with more pics of the place: https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/resorts/wz/

Firstly, to mention that Windsor is a little town flanked by vineyards. It reminded us so much of the Western Cape when we traveled up to our accommodation.

Then from our condo, we had a view of the pool and hot tub:

Our gas bbq/braai and table etc on our balcony:

Then some unfortunately blurry pics of our lounge and kitchen area: (you'll see our sprawled things everywhere indicating that we were already thoroughly relaxed and settled in!)

Now for a tour of Windsor! What a quaint and sweet little town. You will notice that the town doesn't look very old and many of the buildings looked similar almost as though they had been built all at once! Here is a link to the town site: http://www.ci.windsor.ca.us/

Now you will see what I mean about the similar looking buildings:

And then to the Town Green:

And then a warning to South African's asking for a doggy bag when you actually mean 'take away' bag! hehe!

And... that concludes PART ONE of our Windsor travels! We hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for reading about our adventures. :)

Reflecting on the last year... Fall and Spring Semesters at TMS

2011-05-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

At Jeffrey's Bay Bible Church (JBBC), we typically have a more relaxed evening service on Sundays and are given the opportunity to give a testimony and I thought that I would try to do something similar with this post.

Our testimonies for The Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 are as follows: (Imagine an animated and excited pitch!)
- Izak has completed a full year at The Masters Seminary and we honestly have no doubt that it has all been by the Lord's grace! There have been times when it all just seemed too much and there was too little time! During these hard times we would remember what Wynand had said about focusing on the mound of dirt where we are digging right now and not on the entire mountain! Such wisdom in these words, sometimes I was convinced that I could see an actual mountain!

- Izak and I were able to finish Hebrew Grammar 1&2 in this last year and now can read the Old Testament a whole lot more than before we did the classes!
Here is a pic of the Hebrew class: (Professor Hassler is in the back middle with the black pullover... the rest are students)

With our final exam, Professor Hassler wrote the following on my paper: (In the picture below...) The professors were always so gracious and accepting and I often felt like one of the seminary students! Dr Harris in our prayer class asked me to share what the class had meant to me with the rest of the 'real' students! It has been such a wonderful year and Izak and I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing it together!

- As one of his 'techy projects' Izak managed to convert his windows mobile phone into an android. (Far more user friendly in the States this way...) It was quite a feat and now he gets to use the phone in ways he couldn't before. It has turned into quite a valuable tool! Here is the token android picture:

- Due to Izak's job at the Bookstore we have been blessed with almost a bookshelf full of books after our first year! Here is a pic of our book collection:

- We have had a very old fridge (older than me and not working quite as well!) until approximately two weeks ago- and recently our landladies replaced it with a brand new one! Now, for the first time we have a working freezer AND perishables seem to be lasting longer! (And I thought it was just the way that food is here! :) ) Here are some pics of our new FRIDGE!

- A VISA prerequisite before coming here was that we could meet all of our financial obligations for the first year and the Lord graciously met all these needs! As our first year came to a close, we had no idea how our financial obligations would be met for the following year - a big part of these would be tuition costs. God has been so gracious and has provided our tuition fees for us through the same couple who agreed to support us in the same way this last year!

- As many of you know, we were blessed with a holiday to Windsor- from one of our landladies who owns timeshare. Windsor is north of San Francisco and +- 7hours drive from here. Our holiday is in the third week of July and our car is giving us trouble, so getting that far with our car would possibly have been a challenge... Well, the same couple who are sponsoring the tuition are giving us flights up to our holiday destination and the use of one of their vehicles! What a blessing! (It will help us to relax and simply enjoy the time away...)

- One of our landladies- called Ina is a seamstress and she is teaching me to sew! It is something that I have wanted to learn to do for ages and I am so looking forward to it! She has already helped me by altering some garments that desperately needed changes! What a blessing!

- Recently our finances were so tight and we were trying to use what we had in our grocery cupboard in order to get by that week. On that very same day we received coupons from one of the grocery stores in our area and one of the coupons was for $12 and a few of the discount coupons were for items that were on my shopping list! Coincidence? I think not! Here is a picture of the handy coupons:

- We have just finished our first summer classes and they were called "Pastor's home" and one of the tasks that had to be done was for Izak to take me out on a date (I got to grade him!) and a family from Jeffrey's Bay had sent us a financial gift specifically for a date and we got to use it for just that! I love IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/# (A Swedish home decor place which is very creatively set up like real rooms incorporating their products and also has very reasonable and yummy food!)- it is so fun and you get lots of creative ideas! PLUS breakfast is one of my favourite meals! So we went there for breakfast and then walked around and even went to see a movie! Needless to say... he got 100%! Here are some pics from our date:

Our tasty breakfast burrito's:

A view from the window:

And some of IKEA:

In essence, a verse that rings true to us in summarizing this year is from Psalm 138:8, "The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever."

Well, thanks for popping in! We look forward to hearing from you!

Exploring the Griffith Observatory with Mike,Licia and Connor

2011-04-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Mike and Licia are friends of ours from our days in London! We had known that they were planning a visit for a while now and so it was so good to catch up- even though it was for one evening! It was also good because Izak was forced to take a break in the midst of the intense schedule. We decided to go to Griffith Observatory since we had heard such wonderful things about it from friends and the admission is free!

It was such a fun trip (even the navigating our way there) since it reminded us of our London city walks. We were given a deck of London walk cards and it really made our London experience quite exceptional as it helped us to find landmarks that we otherwise would have missed. I remember us going by famous author's homes and fun hidden restaurants that well known people had gone to! We would definitely recommend getting a deck if you happen to be in one of the cities that they are made for... Here is the link: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/citywalks/) So, this time, we did an 'LA walk' with our car!

Driving towards Griffith Observatory, we were amazed to see how beautiful the area around Griffith Park is... so green and lush! We parked quite a way from the observatory in the end because it was very busy- even on a Thursday evening and so it did turn out to be a bit of a city walk after all!

Here is the beginning of our 'trek' up the hill to the observatory:

As you climb the hill leading up to the observatory, you begin to get a better and better view of the sprawling city from above:

Here we have made it up the hill and have our first view of the actual Griffith Observatory:

Here is another shot of LA from the front of the observatory:

A closer look at the entrance: (including the astronomers memorial in the entrance grounds and the details on the wall of the entrance door...)

And your South African's upon arrival: It was such a fun experience!

Then, on the inside of the Observatory... in the Central Rotunda:
Impressive Ballin ceiling and wall murals:

Then meet Mike and Licia:

And meeting little Connor for the first time:

Within the Rotunda, there is this Foucault Pendulum, which was developed by a French physicist called Leon Foucault and it demonstrates the rotation of the earth... Must say that seeing how it proves the earth to be rotating made me feel a little motion sick- fortunately it isn't something that I am continually aware of! Here are some pics of the pendulum and then a short clip:

Then, we got to see a Tesla Coil: (It was created by Nikola Tesla in +- 1891 and is a sort of resonant transformer- it was used to conduct experiments for things like electrical lighting...)

Here is a quick clip of the Tesla Coil:

Then, there are amazing views of LA from these observation terraces: (You can see the Hollywood sign in the second picture if you look carefully...)

Then, pictures from the different areas within the observatory: (There is a planetarium that is apparently very good that we will try and go to see next time.)

Seeing all of this made me think of Psalm 19:1, which says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.”

We hope that you enjoyed a quick tour of the Griffith Observatory! We look forward to hearing from you and thanks for reading our post!

Goodbye to Mrs C, Volleyball games and Trader Joe gift vouchers

2011-04-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that we have had our last Sem wives meet-up until next semester? That's right! Only 5 weeks until the end of the semester.

My sem wife table leader Mrs C (Colleen Craigen- who is married to the well-known Dr. Craigen) is leaving with her beloved husband to go and settle down closer to their kids.

She shared about herself with all the ladies for our last night of festivities... for this semester!

Here are some pics of the evening:

This is one of our table... the girls from table 3:

A table heavy laden with scrumptious goodies:

My partner-in-crime for the evening- Elena from the UK... We had such good fun!

Mrs C, sharing her encouraging yet tear-jerking message...

Then... for those who were not aware... I have started assisting one of the seminary students coach volleyball for the Grace Community School that is on the campus. The sem student has classes for part of the practices on both Tuesdays and Thursdays so he needed someone to help him out on those afternoons. Before you ask if I have ever played volleyball before... the answer is... No! I have indeed never played volleyball before in my life! The good news is that I am only responsible for the warm ups and some drills. (Bonus! Free gym twice a week!)

I tried to help a girl with her serve based on my tennis know-how and I hope that it helped! hehe! ;)

I have really enjoyed getting to know the middle school girls (grades 6-9) and learning all about Volleyball. I went to watch one of their games this last week and it was so sweet- they dedicated the game to me and then won it! Go Lady Hawks!

Here are some pictures of the Lady Hawks A team:

And here are the sweet B Team girls supporting them as they played:

And here the B Team girls are in action:

Then, we were blessed with some Trader Joe's vouchers and some of the ingredients were used to cook the below recipes...

With the help of a sem wife called Katie (who reeeally knows how to cook!) I made:
1.) Parmesan and caramelized onion brown rice,
2.) Sauteed reggae coloured veggies and ...
3.) All-American cranberry chicken

I am still amazed at how well it worked out!

First the Trader Joe voucher:

A pretty one of some bright peppers in my star colander: ( I love stars! And Lenore had kept this for me. when we first arrived..)

Here is the meal:

And a happy Izak:

Finally, you'll be pleased to know that I ventured off on the LA freeways to South Pasadena to have coffee with a friend from our Glendale Bible Study.... Christy! We went and had such fun chats, giggles and wonderful treats with her sweet little boy, Caleb... here is a cute one of the two of them:

Well, thanks for reading our fairly long post- we hope to hear from you soon! Keep in touch as always!

Your Bakkes'

Rain in California, Crock pot gift and Amazon Rooibos Tea

2011-04-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it is that time in the semester when everything seems to have reached a deadline! I was sitting next to a student and he asked, "What class is this again?". I think that helps define the situation that many students find themselves in at the moment.

We had some pretty heavy rain recently and the roads literally seemed to turn into rivers! Here are some pictures of us just about sailin' down LA river-roads!

The lovely part about the rain that we had the most beautiful sunset that evening... You can't quite get the complete picture here, but the tree branches had an almost golden halo-effect and the sky was such vibrant pinks and purples: (Taken from our driveway...)

Then, we were given an amazing Crockpot from a friend and I am sooo thankful! I can't stop thinking about all the easy recipes that this pot will be cooking for the Bakkes family!

Here it is on its virgin voyage: Yummy beef and vegetable stew:

Also, we found some reasonably priced Rooibos Tea on Amazon! We are so thankful as the options in the normal stores are a little expensive and this loose leaf tea is amazing! We even made it with our filter coffee machine and it worked very well!

Lastly, our car, as you know has been giving us many problems, and we have not been able to take it in for repairs as we needed transportation BUT then our friend Christopher Robin (the missionary that knows Wynand and the gang back home...) let us use his Toyota pickup while he is away. Now we can hopefully get our car repaired. (If it is worth it as there seem to be some major electrical problems.) Christopher Robin's truck / "bakkie" is great! It reminds us of being on a farm... Now when we are on our way to school, Izak and I joke about going to check up on the sheep and making sure that the reservoir levels are right! (I really loved the farm that I spent the first few years of my life on as it brings back such fond memories!)

Well- please keep in touch, feel free to make comments and thanks for reading our news!

The Shepherd's Conference 2011 and Rummy-O with friends

2011-03-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

The Shepherds Conference 2011 was such a blessing to be involved with! There were lots of late nights, but it was sooo encouraging to witness the +-750 volunteers serving the +-3500 pastors who came in from all around the world!

I volunteered and was placed with Izak and some other GBI staff in the Shipping Department. Each pastor was given 14 giveaway books at the conference, plus a $50 gift voucher to spend at any of the bookstores or shops on the campus. The Shipping department was available to ship those back to them. Then, there were publishers set up on the campus plus lots of conference specials on books and even a 'Shepherds Shoppe' that had t-shirts, travel mugs and other souvenirs for the pastors to buy.

Here is the entrance to our Shipping department:

Here are the friendly GBI'ers:

Here are many volunteers working while a session is on:

Here tables are set up for lunchtime in what is usually the parking lot:

Here are some pics of places on the campus that has been set up especially for the conference:

Someone said that this is like 'Disneyland' for pastors! It really is so fun to see these men that work hard pouring out their lives for others all year and then they come here and are served. There is a never ending supply of cold drinks, food, books... and even haircuts! Here is the little barber station that is set up during the conference:

Here are a few more of the campus:

They even set up lounges for the specific countries represented! There is a Russian lounge for example so that Russian pastors can meet one another and enjoy food that is more what they are used to enjoying culturally!

Anyway... Back to the shipping department... Here you see a sign leading to our little room:

Here are some pastors sending off books... If you look towards the back of the room you can see blue bins stacked up on the shelves. Well, they could have bins allocated for their books and add to their individual bin during the conference and then we would organize to ship the contents for them at the end of the conference.

Here I am holding the 'punch', which was what would be done to their conference cards upon signing up for shipping: (Whoooaa! It really was quite difficult to do at first and then Izak changed the setting to a smaller hole setting which helped me feel a little 'more capable'!!!)

We had many 14 hour days and finally, quite late on the Saturday evening, after the conference had come to an end... our lonely little car got to take us home... with sore feet and burning, tired eyes... but joyful hearts!

Then, just last night, we had a fun get-together with Bryan and Polly... and an evening for... wait for it... Rummy-O! (Known as Rummycub back home!)

Here are the serious players:

Check the intensity and concentration!

And your friendly South Africans:

Thanks for reading our blog! We have had some very heavy rains and I took some pics to show you the Californian roads which are now rivers! Quite frightening! I can see why so many people have such big vehicles now! I will post the pics soon...

Keep in touch and please keep the comments coming!

A delightful evening at the Ronald Reagan Library

2011-03-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

We have had a wonderful week, beginning with an evening celebrating the 25th Anniversary for TMS at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library...Here is a link to check out their galleries and virtual tours:
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/
Here is a pic of us at the entrance:

Now, I am sure that some of you would have seen the program- "Where's Wally?" Well- let me know if you can spot Izak! hehe.

We traveled to the venue with Bob and Lenore- it was lovely to catch up with such busy lives all round!
Here they are at the entrance:

And then we got a look at a 60'x20' replica the white house:
(It is shown all over the country and is updated with the new president's changes to the oval office etc...)

I love how this one almost looks like a real life limo! But... it is just part of the display:

Here is a small glimpse of the Oval office currently:

Then, onwards we adventured, deeper into the Ronald Reagan museum...

They had a life size room made up to be like the Oval Office when Reagan was president:

These and other giant and colourful pictures mark the halls of the museum:

We then followed the crowds to the pavilion which hosted Air Force One and the actual celebratory banquet:

Here I am standing in front of Air Force One: (Typically you get to go through the plane to get down to the pavilion, but we were a little late...)

Here you see some guests making their way through the plane:

This is a picture of the pavilion from above:

Here is a closer look at what the tables looked like:

The singer- Jubilant Sykes blew us away with his beautiful voice:

Here is a close-up of our delicious meal: (salmon, steak, delicious salad and vegetables!)

Here is one of the two of us standing under Air Force One at the end of the evening... courtesy of Lenore...

And to top it off, each table could take the centre-piece home and I was nominated to take our tables!
Our first All American vase:

I planned to include info from the Shepherds Conference, but will do that with our next post! There was just too much to include. We were glad to bump into Dave and Mary Gillies at the Banquet- but don't have a picture to prove it!

Well, until next time! Totsiens!

Beloved snow and meet the EWG and Sem wives ladies!

2011-03-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have secretly (Alright, perhaps not so secretly!) been hoping for it to snow this winter but it hasn't snowed in La Crescenta since +-1984 and this stat according to Pat our WPC- Weather Report Landlady! But it suddenly began getting very cold and one morning on our way to the campus we looked up and... saw SNOW-covered mountains!

Well, with this development, I began hoping even more for snow in the normally sunny California... and....

TA-DA! It did! Here are the Bakkes' enjoying some Californian snow:

I have been planning to introduce you to the Every Woman's Grace group and also to the Sem Wives group.... So at last, here are pictures of both.

This is the EWG Bible Study Group: (We meet at 10 on Wednesday mornings...)

I thought that I had managed to capture everyone, but missed Dot who is the lady right on the right end- she is so precious and couldn't resist putting up an extra picture so that you can see her! So encouraging to meet these more 'mature' ladies who have walked with the Lord for so many years and who love Him so much still.

Then, our International Sem Wives group which meets at 7pm on Wednesdays.
We have ladies from South Africa, England, Australia, the Philippines, Germany and Belgium...

More exciting news! We are going to the 25th Anniversary TMS Celebration Banquet this Friday, which is going to be a formal 'do' hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential library! They are having a well known singer called Jubilant Sykes performing and also John Macarthur will be sharing about the last 25 years of The Masters Seminary! What a blessing to be here during this time in order to be a part of this! :)

Here is a link to check out the venue in more detail:
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/
We are excited to get to tour the library and they even have a small replica of the Oval Office that is available for viewing which we will hopefully get to see too!
Here is a link to the Oval Office exhibition:
http://www.reaganlibrary.com/details_f.aspx?p=LM2002EX&h1=7&h2=3&lm=libraryandmuseum&args_a=cms&args_b=32&argsb=N&tx=15&sw=15

We hope to take lots of pictures! So perhaps in the next blog post, you will see our smiling faces touring the library and 'Oval Office'!

The Shepherd's conference begins next week and like I mentioned before, I will be volunteering to work alongside Izak in the shipping department and I am really looking forward to seeing 3000 pastors flocking in from all over the world and hoping to serve them alongside the other 500 Grace Community Church members!

I took these pictures just this afternoon so that you can see the Shepherds Conference preparations:

In closing, Izak said something good about the snow we had on the La Crescenta mountains recently, based on Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

He said, ...come rain or shine, these mountains have always been a dull brown but now, for the first time, they were a beautiful white! It reminds me of God's grace to those who believe in His Son. His grace covers our sin, so that all He sees, when He looks at us, is His own righteousness through Jesus!

Have a great 'rest of the week' and we hope to hear from you soon!

When things are a little quieter...

2011-02-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

I just chatted to Jansie for a little bit and realised that I have stopped blogging if I haven't got loads of pictures and new adventures to tell you about... Well, I am going to try and keep in touch, even when it is a brief update like today's post.

Izak has been extremely busy as usual. He has been working hard on catching up on school work and it's starting to get busier now that the Shepherds conference is on the way! (Since he does shipping he will be extremely busy with shipping books back for pastors that come to the conference!) I am volunteering to help with shipping and will get to work with Izak! There are about 500 volunteers for the Shepherds conference week and it is apparently all done in such excellence. What a privilege to be apart of this years conference.

Izak hopes to work hard on some book outlines for Old Testament 2 this weekend and to write some synopsis papers. It is tricky to get up to date when you lag behind since the new workload doesn't diminish! Please continue to pray for his time management and for wisdom to know what to tackle first.

He got his results back for the first Hebrew exam and did well. Thank you for praying for him.

We have been doing work on translating Genesis and it has been such a challenging but good experience!

We had a cozy Sem Wives group meeting this last week, with only four of us being able to make it. (It may have been because it has been such an icy cold week of weather in LA- minus 1 degrees Celsius at times!) When we were all chatting one of the ladies mentioned that she had these verses, from Ephesians 5:15-16 on her heart. It says, " Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

It was interesting since we have been working through Ephesians at the "Every Woman's Grace" Bible study, I had actually printed it out and put it on the fridge since it is so easy to waste time and to not redeem it!
(If you would like to download the study, it is available online and even divided up into daily portions for devotions... Very well done and helps you to dig deeper...)
Here is a link to the site:
http://www.gracechurch.org/ministries/resources.aspx?MinistryID=68

It is good to try to keep in mind that we have no idea how many days we will have on this earth and to use our time wisely.

The lady that spoke at the "Every Woman's Grace" Bible study this Wednesday said that stats reveal that the average person uses +-4 hours per day of their awake time watching TV and another 2 hours online/on their computer per day... When you think about that as an annual estimate, you end up spending +-2 months watching TV and being online/ on your computer! Quite frightening to account for that much time wasted!

When Vicky and Andrew left LA, they left us a plant and it really brings me great joy to see new plant life activity!

Then... we received a gift voucher for In-N-Out this week as a surprise in the post!

And... our one landlady- Ina has timeshare and she booked us into a really nice resort that is just north of San Francisco for a few days in June! It is in a city called Windsor... We couldn't even afford to go on this kind of vacation in South Africa when we were both working... so it just testifies of the Lord's kindness to us!

Thank you for reading our blog and please keep in touch!

Ryan's pizza party'tjie and Rowan's visit

2011-02-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

As you more than likely realised, we have been quieter than usual! It has been a combination of:
- Izak contracting a very serious version of the flu (that required H1N1 treatment- tamiflu)
- The starting up of seminary and
- A visit from my brother, Rowan!

Here are a few highlights from the last weeks...

Ryan and Elna invited us to join them for Ryan's birthday bash at the Botes' and it was a lot of fun! Here are a few glimpses:
The pizza arrives: (This is a winning formula to a good party!)

The happy celebrating couple: (Note the party hat! hehe)

The lovely hosting family- Ryk and Lynette Botes:

Ryan and Elna had friends visiting from Pretoria and it was great fun to meet them!
Here they are- Jonathan and Joy:

And to top off the delicious meal, Lynette made good old South African milk tart:

and peppermint crisp and caramel tart:

It was a great time of getting to know each other better and lots of laughter!

Then, Rowan arrived for his visit! We have been looking forward to it for the longest time and it was so amazing to have him here.

One funny thing was that we borrowed an air mattress from friends of ours and it turned out to be a queen size aero-bed which was a very nice type... (it only needs plugging in and a flick of a button to inflate!) Soon enough the aero-bed grew and grew... and grew! And it was higher and wider than our bed and our home was one big jumping castle! hehe! It was fine for a couple of nights but then we were given a twin size inflatable mattress which worked a little better, since it enabled us to walk around in our home and have the bed set up simultaneously! It has been such a fun family camp-up week!

Love this one of Rowan- on our couch in California! :)

Here is one of where we do most of our grocery shopping:

Rowan kept commenting on the palm trees that are all over. It is something that you stop noticing!

We did some other shopping too...

Rowan came along to all the classes at TMS, here he is in front of the sign:

And the beloved bookstore:

Here is one of Rowan and I:

And... after a week of camping out... These before and after pics indicate how living in each others space can improve family relations!
Before:

After:

Hehe! We had such fun times, we will miss Rowan and are hoping that he returns soon!

Well, last time I mentioned the other San Francisco pics- here are some of our momentos in our home:
Our San Francisco corner:

And our little model pencil sharpener and cable car magnet:

When we got to see this opportunity through Rowan's eyes, it made us reflect on how the Lord has undertaken for us by bringing us across the world to have such wonderful and rich experiences and it has all drawn us closer to Him and made our hearts even more thankful for life and all that it entails!
This Psalm is our prayer:

Psalm 43:3a, “Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me..."

I submitted an article to "the Distaff", it is a sem wives journal and it was published this month. It is all about how the Lord made a way for us to get here and it is only a very shortened version, but if you would like to read it, you can click on this link: http://www.tms.edu/semwivesweb/distaff.asp and download the February distaff.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Gillies weekend away, Ghirardelli chocolate sundaes, Golden Gate Bridge...

2011-01-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic weekend away! We are so grateful to have seen Northern California! It is so green and hilly. It was such a treat to get to know the Gillies better and to be exposed to their exponential tour guide talent!
Hopefully this blog post will give you a small hint of our wonderful adventure!

In our last post, I wrote about how Izak had pinned the little South African flags up on our curtains for decoration... well... Dave had put up a big South African flag on their curtain when we came downstairs for breakfast! Talk about making your guests feel 'at home'!

Here is a picture of Izak and I in front of the Gillies home in San Jose:

On our first day, we headed off to San Francisco! I have been wanting to see the Golden Gate Bridge for ages and did not think the event very likely... but here it is!

Here we are on the Golden Gate Bridge:

This is at the 'Lookout point':

Official 'Lookout' equipment:

What is there to see out there?
Well, Alcatraz....
For more info on Alcatraz: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/history.aspx

Here is one of our lovely hosts (Actually more like family than hosts now!)

A look at San Francisco Bay:

My new favourite picture:

Then off to the San Francisco Wharf:
We first met 'Gimme, gimme, my name's Jimmy!' He had a picture with Desmond Tutu and could speak a little Afrikaans! (Such a character!)

And this typical of the wharf:

Our first ever Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl... Mmmmmm!

And... if that wasn't mouth-watering enough... we had dessert at Ghirardelli's. What unbelievable chocolate fudge sundaes!
http://www.ghirardelli.com/about/

And like Izak noticed, you know its going to be decadent when there is water readily available!

Once again... I WISH you could taste this:

Then, on our way out of San Francisco, we saw China Town:

Streets of San Francisco:

On Day 2, we traveled to Santa Cruz...
(It was a very cold weekend- you may have gathered from what we are wearing...)

There was one brave surfer willing to paddle out:

And... the original O'Neill shop, where we got warm hats as souveneirs!

Then, to Castroville... note the giant artichoke! We had our first ever deep fried artichokes!

And then to Monterey!

After 52 years... you can still feel the love! :)

Dave, the tour guide in action!

The beautiful Carmel beach...

This may seem like a book... but it is the very condensed version! Perhaps I'll include some of the additional things in the next post! We had such a wonderful time. The Gillies were so kind and truly made it feel like we were visiting family. We got to go to their church on the Sunday and it was great to get a feel for their home church too. What a blessing to get to spend all this time getting to know a loving and godly couple that truly live in light of eternity! Look forward to your responses!

We hope this new year will be a remarkably blessed year- right now, 2011 just sounds like a futuristic film! :)

The Zekveld LA exit, First Christmas in Cali and poinssettias on my doorstep!

2010-12-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

Well... The Zekveld's have departed! They are busy road-tripping across the USA and are on their way back to South Africa. Andrew has been posting pictures on Facebook which has been great to keep up with all that they have been seeing whilst being on the road.

Here are some pictures of the Bookstore's farewell for Andrew:

Here Obed had everyone laughing because he wanted to sing out "For he's a jolly good fellow!" which is strictly more British it would appear judging from the uniformed American response! Hehe! Obed's comical response was along the lines of: "What? I love that song!" Which just caused even more erupting laughter! The conversation then led to envisioning Obed jogging along, listening to "For he's a jolly good fellow" on his ipod! I love how we can enjoy the blend of cultures in rich friendships like we do here.

Izak and I worked hard at making our little home more festive for the Christmas season!
We didn't have a great deal of space to work with... But we got some help from the Humansdorp Bakkes'! They sent us a Christmas package (Which I opened ahead of time! Eeeek! Sorry about that! Izak reckons he will try to hide them from me in the future!) We got this cute hand-made Christmas card... (Heleen's sketches are phenomenal.)
Here is the outside of the card:

Here is the inside of the card: (with a sketch of the Humansdorp Bakkes'! So creative!)

We also got these little South African flags in our Christmas parcel, and I came into the room, and Izak had put them up on the curtains! I just LOVED that he had done that! It just made our place feel that little bit more like home. :)

Then, we picked up some fairy lights:

And Izak "Light Engineer" worked his magic: (Notice the South African flags! I would not have allowed the messy'ish bed into the picture otherwise!)

Then, to add to the festivities... We got some unusually (by South African standards...) scented candles: (They really make one hungry with yummy Banana nut bread and sugar cookie scents- mmmm!)

For our Christmas breakfast, we had WAFFLES with raspberries, ice cream and hot chocolate fudge: (This was after chatting to our family- which helped work up the appetite!)

Needless to say, we didn't need lunch til about 4 that afternoon!

We made the Ina Paarman "Chicken Breast Rolls with Olives, Mozzarella and Tomato" dish. I would definitely recommend the recipe! (I made it back home and for olive pesto, you can simply blend some olives (green and black ones if you have some) and basil, parsley and olive oil... Not sure if it meets the 'true pesto' standard- but it works for this recipe!
Here is a link to the recipe:
http://www.paarman.co.za/recipe_search/chicken_breast_rolls.asp

The Grace Church Christmas concert was on for four days (Wow! I wish you could have been a part of it! What an exceptional experience!) Well, they had a great number of these poinsettias up on the stage and Izak got given some and brought them home! (He knew it would truly make my day!) So without further ado, meet our joyous, festive poinsettias:

Doesn't it look so welcoming?!? I love the impact that plants can have!

Well, so this has been our first Christmas in California and it has been a blessing to lay-low. Izak and I both had colds and it was actually good for us to stay home and do very little!

We are flying off to San Jose to visit the Gillies tomorrow. We are really looking forward to it. They got us tickets to come and see them, and we are so grateful to not have to spend a great deal of time on the wet roads (It has been raining so much here! Apparently, we have had the highest rainfall in LA in ten years.)

Thanks for reading our blog! We look forward to hearing from you...

Shadow Hills house-sitting, Christmas concert with the Gillies and Ventura with the girls!

2010-12-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back in our little house but we had a fabulous time house-sitting for the Stein's. As I mentioned before, being able to take hot-tub study breaks worked very well for us and having an extra room really helped facilitate studying too!

Here are some pictures of the beautiful house:

The beloved hot-tub:

A place to read and relax outside:

A view from their garden reveals the beauty of the area- Shadow Hills. Who knew parts of LA looked like this???

We met up with the Gillies (their son was playing in the orchestra for the Grace Baptist church in Santa Clarita and we were invited to go to a spectacular Christmas concert!) I wish I could post pictures, but I was fairly useless at pulling the camera out that evening, so you'll need to take my word for it! Here is a picture that I found on their website: http://www.gracebaptist.org/christmas

Since all the guys had loads of studying to do for the finals this week, only the girls got to see Ventura. Vicky, Whitney and I went exploring together. (Whitney actually works at the Ventura hospital...) We had breakfast at the Hausers house before setting off, it was French toast on raisin bread- what a winner!- Meet Jason and Whitney Hauser. They are also a seminary couple.

I truly put on my Bakkes cap (Almost all the Bakkes' I know are avid photographers!) and I took Izak's canon and tried my hand at capturing Ventura on 'film'! Needless to say, I used the incorrect setting for many of them, but you may just get to see some of Ventura after all!

Here are some glimpses the our walk down roads near the ocean:

We stopped by at an old Catholic mission: (And I tried to be fairly artistic with the water fountain!)

Then, something else that I have noticed is that California has a flag too, and so people will sometimes have both the American flag up plus the State flag. (I actually spotted this in Shadow Hills for the first time...)

Whitney took us to a look-out point and you will get to see Ventura from above:

The above picture is of the lookout point- the cross was planted by the same mission- if I recall correctly. (If you go into this image, you will see islands in the background. I have no idea which ones they are, but it was great to see how clear the view was!)
Here is another one of the cross:

Ventura reminded me quite a bit of Port Elizabeth... I think it may be the pier, but there was something else about it too. Here are some pictures of the pier and beach:

A surfer in the distance:

Andrew and Vicky are leaving on Friday! We can't believe that they are off! And Izak has his final exams this week. Theology 1 is on Tuesday and the Hebrew final is on Thursday. We plan to go and see the Gillies during the Christmas break and are really looking forward to some relaxation even though Izak has to work for Grace Books and also work ahead for next semester! Pheeew! It is amazing to see that the semester has drawn to a close and the Lord has enabled us... one day at a time. Thank you for reading our blog and we look forward to being in touch!

Thanksgiving farewells and Thanksgiving day with the Morton's!

2010-12-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

As promised last time, I have some pictures courtesy of Vicky from the EWG and Sem wives end-year meetings. (Here is her site, if you would like to check out more of her photography... http://fieldsofprovidence.blogspot.com/

She even captured me sharing for both meetings, so you will feel like you were part of the action! :)
Here are Vicky and I with Brenda Frields, our EWG leader:

Here I am sharing about what the Galatians study meant to me: (Each table had someone share...)

We had a lunch together with all the other EWG groups and it was good to hear from different ladies about how the study has blessed them and also to spend time getting to know one another better.

Later that same day, we had our last Sem Wives meeting for the year. The theme was 'Fall' and here is a look at some of the tables: (The one in the foreground is ours...)

Here is one of Vicky and Rebecca: (Rebecca and her husband Aldo have become friends of ours too! They are originally from Virginia.)

That evening, it was our table's turn to share the quick devotional passage and I got to do it. I read Psalm 63... (Thanks once again to Vicky for documenting the day so actively!)
Here's a snippet from what I read:

Psalm 63:1-4

"O God,you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless youas long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands."

Our Thanksgiving break was only one week long and Izak had to work extra hours at the bookstore. During the break, he had an important research paper to write on 'God and time', 5 Books to finish reading and then also writing a brief review on each book, 2 sermon outlines and lots of Hebrew homework to do... So you can imagine that it was not a break at all, in fact, it was a busier time than normal! (At one point it just seemed like an impossible feat, but he has worked so hard flat out and it looks like he may have the majority handed in on time.) It is only by God's grace that he managed what he did... In fact, he is still working away as I write this!

We were invited to the Morton's for Thanksgiving dinner where Bryan and the Zekveld's would be too.

Here are some pictures from our first American Thanksgiving dinner: A picture of the table set:

Bryan carving the turkey:

Izak relaxing:

Vicky, Andrew and Bryan seated at the table: Such delicious food! Incredible turkey, sweet potato with pecan nuts, macaroni and cheese (ALWAYS a winner!), cranberry sauce, beans, rolls, salad... And for dessert- pumpkin pie and home-made cheese cake!

Another reason to love America - these are all disposable: (Including the cutlery!)

Our hosts: (Jonathan and Meredith Morton)

We all had such great chats and the day had such a natural, relaxed feel. After the meal we played a complicated dice game that Bryan tried to teach us all and we were introduced to a game called 'Catch Phrase' (it's quite similar to 30 Seconds for the South Africans). It was one of those evenings when you are reluctant to go home and your tummy is a little sore from all the laughter and your heart is warmed.

We are busy house-sitting for the Stein's and I will post some pics of that soon.

The house-sitting has been a pleasure! Who else gets to have 15 minute Jacuzzi study breaks while in seminary???

I am often amazed when I think about how good my life is. When I look back at where the Lord has brought me from in the past and the true hope I have today! I am so thankful. Woohoo!

Keep in touch! We would love to hear your news.

Big paper due, a hearty South African braai and musical fountains

2010-11-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

It's our last week before the Thanksgiving break and it is our last week for both "Every Woman's Grace" and "Sem Wives" for the year.

Izak had a big paper due for this week and here he is preparing for his Hermeneutics paper in the library:

Look at his pile of library books!

Then we had a "South African braai" this weekend! We were invited to the Plodinec's place (they have been back in the States for a while but are usually stationed in South Africa in Polokwane- at Christ Seminary...)
Here is a link to their info:
http://www.gracechurch.org/ministries/outreach/international/missionary/?id=91
Well, we had Dr Drew (also a South African) providing some REAL South African Boerewors, Biltong and Droe Wors! WHAT A TREAT! We even had milk tart for dessert! Here are some pics from the braai:
This is Lynette and Mr (Dr) and Mrs Cruygen:

Here are Andrew and Vicky and Dr Drew's wife, Holly:

Here are the men mingling! (Steve Plodinec is the obvious braai-er! Ie note the apron!) :) The other men are all African seminary students...

And your very own friendly South Africans:

Izak had a 'teachers' meeting for our Bible study on Friday evening and I went and wandered around an impressive mall in Glendale! I witnessed this incredible musical fountain to a great Frank Sinatra song. Soooo romantic! Here are a few glimpses: (I simply stumbled upon it and it was so well done- the fountains water movement was synchronized to the music!)

Then, here are some pics of the little walkway of the shopping centre... Such a pretty setup:

Vicky took pictures from this morning's Every Woman's Grace time and we'll try and get some pictures of the Sem Wives Finale too for you to see...

Izak has to work extra hours during the break and he has plenty of work to do in exam preparation as well as a big research paper that is due when school resumes.

We are having our first "Thanksgiving celebration" with Andrew and Vicky plus we plan to go and visit the Hauser's in Ventura next Saturday...hopefully! So, more pics to follow.

Speak to you soon!

Exciting parcel from Jeffreys Bay, Stir fried cashew chicken recipe and meet Bob and Lenore...

2010-11-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well! We got our first ever package all the way from South Africa! Wow! Thanks Jeffreys Bay Bible Church ladies! We noticed the Christmas detail on the package but could not resist! Thank you so much for being so thoughtful. We finished the 'Chuckles' chocolates within 5 minutes of receiving the package! Here are the contents sprawled out on our couch- minus the chuckles chocolates!

Here is a closer look of some of the South African items:
'South African Protea' Fridge magnet:

A J-Bay keyring:

This one made Izak and I laugh! Great souvenir Liz! This fizzer was customized by little Kara! When I last saw her, I wouldn't have imagined her teeth having this sort of impact! And now after seeing a video of her walking... I can believe it! Makes us feel like the Olivier's have come to visit LA! (hehehe- you knew I would love that Liz!)

We appreciated getting the parcel so much. The DVD with all the pictures made me cry and we have used the tea, read the notes and put everything else on the fridge! (Except the earrings, which I have worn numerous times and love both pairs!) Here is a look of our fridge 'full of love'!

Since we have been here, I have been trying out some world recipes, this Stir-fried cashew chicken recipe was so easy and actually had Asian flair! (I would add more chilli next time...)
Here is a pic: (I found some rice noodles, which were so quick to prepare!)
Here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1839,155172-254196,00.html

Then, we went to visit with Bob and Lenore for Sunday lunch and it was great to see them again! (We will be house-sitting for them for the first two weeks in December and we'll be looking after their very friendly rottweiler too- called Gracie...)
Meet.... Bob and Lenore!

While we were at Bob and Lenore's place, she showed me these Origami flowers that her grand-daughter had made and let us have one! (Our first American Christmas decoration for our home!) I think that it is such a great idea for a homemade decoration! (The Christmas paper just makes it so festive!) So here is a how-to-make-origami-Christmas-roses site!
http://www.ehow.com/how_4465247_make-origami-roses.html

I wish you could try these! We discovered them from Christine (our friendly TMS admissions lady!) and we have been hooked! I believe they are especially made for Halloween... Here are some pics- which just doesn't allow the flavour sensation to quite arrest you as it has us! I look forward to seeing what they make for the other holidays! Such a great plan. I am definitely a fan! Check out their site: http://www.brachs.com/product_categories/halloween

I was sick for the first time since being away from home and Izak was Sem student, book-shop worker and nurser extraordinaire! :)

We only have two weeks to go before the Thanksgiving break and we are looking forward to that. However, Izak has exams directly after the break and two big papers that are due before the exams, so please pray for him!
We are so encouraged by the Lord's kindness to us. We are almost done with our first semester and it has been an incredible blessing. (Trials and hard work have abounded but also the memories to cherish and lots of growing!)

We'll be in touch!

News on Angola Prison, a Surprise Birthday party, In-Out-Out voucher usage and meeting Christopher Robin!

2010-10-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, we heard about this prison ministry in Angola Prison in Louisiana. What an astounding encouragement. This prison was once the bloodiest prison in the US and they started a seminary inside the prison and now the whole place has changed and there are 80 churches or so within the prison and there is a massive drop in crime and the men have hope. They are even sending missionaries to other prisons in the country! Only the Lord could change hearts in such an evident way.
Check this five minute video clip on it if you have a chance:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1XYSz0cE0
(It's on Youtube)

We had Vicky's surprise birthday party on Friday night and I am just so relieved that we all managed to keep it a surprise! Here are some pics of them arriving! (Vicky confessed to not knowing anything was going on and that is the essence of a true surprise party!)
Here are her and Andrew arriving: (And the group of surprise guests:)

The happy couple! :)
Also, the theme was 'Fall' and look at what Lynette managed to do:

We all enjoyed lots of Dominoes Pizza:

And finally Vicky got to blow out the '25 year' birthday candle:

Up next, we went to grab lunch on Sunday at In-N-Out to use our gift voucher. Now, if any of you are wondering whether or not In-N-Out is a popular 'LA thing', here is proof at 2pm on Sunday afternoon:
(This is us waiting in a line for the drive through...)

Above, you can see the little kitchen where they all work on the orders... To produce... THIS! Two cheeseburgers and Animal Fries (Creamy Cheese and onion covered fries!) And... no, I don't think that America is good for our weight! Hehe.

This is the road - called Roscoe Boulevard- we drive everyday to get to the church and seminary. (It is also the road we use to reach In-N-Out. It is normally way busier than this):

Then, this was very exciting! I got to meet 'Christopher Robin D'Angelo! I have heard so much about him from Izak and Jansie and also I first learnt to surf using the wetsuit he left in Jeffreys 'for those that would need to borrow a wetsuit in the meantime til he returned...'.
Here is one of him and Izak and one of him on his own: (Specially for those of you who haven't seen him in ages!)

Well, we have an intense week ahead.. with a Hebrew exam on Tuesday and a book review on Thursday! Please pray for us and have a great week!

Goodbye to Rachel, Cheesecake factory with Belle, the Fall Woman's Event and Meeting the Gillies'!

2010-10-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

This has been such a fun week. First, unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Rachel (who worked at Grace Books.) We all had farewell lunch together:
(Izak was the only one that got the 'farewell expression' right). You can get a look at almost everyone that works with Izak at Grace Books.

Rachel is the one in purple and they one we were saying goodbye to... (Andrew and Vicky managed to be in both pictures!)

Then, my friend Belle (Many of you may have met her when she was volunteering in South Africa) came to visit me from Washington. We met in Pasadena and she took me to the Cheesecake factory. I LOVE cheesecake!

Here is a picture of my South African-American-flatmate:

...And me with my beloved cheesecake! I really wish you could try some of this cheesecake specifically! It was a red velvet cheesecake. I can't even find the words to describe it! (I should probably have taken a picture of it before eating most of it but that just goes to prove my point!) It is a cake layered with this decadent red velvet cake and cheesecake...

And here is a picture of Belle and I together! (Awww! It meant so much to me to see her again.)

Then, on Saturday morning, we had our fall woman's event: (Pat and Ina got me a ticket and it was such a blessing!)
Here is a link to the ad on the Grace site: http://www.gracechurch.org/highlights/?MinistryID=68

Here are some pics of the event: (Taken with my little camera...)
(It was Vicky's birthday!)
This picture is taken in the main 'big' church auditorium and you can barely see the speaker, Rosie Martinez... but she is there, speaking to us!

I had lunch with Pat, Ina and Vicky (note the new birthday camera!) We enjoyed a Mexican salad. Very tasty.

Here is the salad:

Now, Vicky got a new camera for her birthday and here are some pics she took of the event. (note the change in quality for the better! Ie you can see the speaker!)

This young lady, Angel Taylor played and sang this incredible song for the ladies: She is verrrry gifted!

This is the Gospel choir led by Logan Carr- quite spectacular!

I took a video clip with my camera of the Gospel Choir- but it hardly captures the moment and someone seems to be speaking simultaneously plus my hand is anything but steady! But here you are!

Then, something that Izak and I have been looking forward to for for a while is meeting a couple that have been such a great support to us... Dave and Mary Gillies! (They live in San Jose- close to San Francisco and about 5/6 hours away from LA if I remember correctly...)
We met them at the Masters College, so that they could show us around there. (The Masters College is affiliated with the Masters Seminary and all the Gillies' children have gone to the college. We had our own personal tour.) Here we all are in front of one of the Masters College signs:

Here are Izak and I:

We went to have dinner with their son, Peter and his wife, Christine. It was such a lovely time filled with interesting discussions about Peter's work as an LAPD helicopter operator and testimonies regarding what the Lord has done in all our lives!
Here are some pics from the evening with the Gillies! Here are (from left to right) Mary and Dave, Christine and Peter and our Izak!

We also got to see the Gillies at Grace on Sunday evening:

...And we went and enjoyed our first ever piece of Boysenberry pie with them afterwards. I forgot to take a picture, but this is a very close representative of the pie we had:

Dave and Mary have invited us to visit them up in San Jose during Christmas time and we are very excited about the prospects of a road trip plus being able to spend more time with them! (We would get to see San Francisco etc too which would be amazing!)

We were so spoilt this weekend! We got a bag full of goodies and money for gas/petrol! (Note the box full of Ferrerro Rocher chocolates and popcorn that has dark chocolate and caramel melted all over it!) and notice the little red gift card on the right. This is an 'in-N-Out Burger voucher'!

This is a closer view of the little voucher. In-N-Out Burger is a little take away franchise that makes delightful burgers! If you turn your In-N-Out take away cup upside down, it has John 3:16 printed on the bottom of it! Here is a link to their website, in case you want to see more! http://www.in-n-out.com/menu.asp

As a once off thing, we went to visit Calvary Bible church- which is where Jack Hughes is the Pastor. It was great and we went with the Zekveld's: (I love how these pics make us look like BIG friendly giants!)

We have to look back over this last week or so and just smile when thinking about all the blessings! It has definitely been a highlight so far!

New campus and church surroundings, Izak's colleagues, Pat and Ina (our land-ladies) and Banana muffins!

2010-10-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

We thought that we would take a few pictures of the church and seminary for those of you who would like to see where we spend most of our lives these days!

Here is a picture of the seminary offices and the library. The offices are on the upper floors and the library is on the ground floor and the lower floors. We are taking this picture from the J Building. Which is another huge three storey block and many of the classes are taught in this building. Ours are almost all on the third floor which happens to be the floor we took this picture from...

This next picture is of the roof of the main church building and you can see glimpses of the church offices and the bookstore which would be found between the seminary buildings and the church offices.

And here is a picture of the church from the outside...

Here is a view of the church with a little bit of a view of the J Building stairs... (we travel up and down these very often!)

Izak has been placed in the shipping department for Grace Books and he still works in the bookshop on every second Sunday. Here are a few pictures of the bookshop before we show the basement where the shipping takes place.

Here is a picture of Obed (a fellow first year seminary student from London... he and his wife have such an encouraging testimony with how they got here and it involves a blog!)

Here are a few more of the bookstore:

And to give an idea of the great service, here is Grace Books (ie Obed) in action! (Note the smiling customer! I am convinced that it has nothing to do with my photo-taking!)

Now, down to the shipping department! Here is the friendliest shipping employee that I have ever encountered:

Here are Izak's fellow-workers, (Brian in the foreground and Brian in the background)- the Brian in the foreground is apparently a great deal like Izak, only he is the American version!)

And Andrew, in managerial mode!

Also, here are a few pics of Izak in 'shipping' action:

Then, we have had a great deal of rain since we last chatted! I mean it literally rained for days! And on the first day that I heard thunder, I was not sure if it was the beginning of an earthquake since I thought that was more likely than thunder and rain in LA! Fortunately it was thunder! Here are some pics of the rain:
This is the little secret alley that we drive down to park in front of our place. (It looks like only one house's driveway but then when you drive down it, it is in fact a little road that leads to the back of all the houses in Adam's street...)

This is a picture of our house's roof from the landlord's place- I go up the back side stairs to do the washing. (I can just go in through the back, without having to go through their house which makes it convenient for everyone.)

Here are some pics of Pat's garden: (The property is on bedrock and so she has had to go the potted plant route.)

Now, to meet our "land-ladies"! What makes this funny is that it was raining and I had mentioned having Kate (the dog) in the picture too. But Kate hates being out in the rain, so enjoy the following scene development! (I just couldn't resist including them all!)

Ina is on the left and Pat is on the right. Kate the dog has raced back indoors! :)

Speaking about plants! I have been dreaming about getting a house pot plant and we found a beautiful 'braided money tree' which is indigenous to Mexico and Northern America. We are hoping for it to grow dollars and not Peso's!(the Mexican currency)

Also, I found a free black album on the 'magic table' at Semwives! (it's a table full of items that are free for the taking!) So, I think it looks beautiful in our little place:

I recently had loads of over-ripe banana's (3 to be exact!) And I tried to find a banana muffin recipe that didn't need bicarb or baking soda because I didn't feel like a trip to the store. I stumbled upon this great recipe and used yoghurt (where it gives the option of sour milk,buttermilk or yoghurt etc). I am so pleased that I tried the yoghurt- they were some of the best muffins ever! So moist! You have got to love the site I found it on: (It's called Hillbilly housewife!) http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/bananamuffins.htm

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/bananamuffins.htm

Finally, we have had a few car issues. The old dodge can be true to its name and a little dodgy at times! But here are some action shots of my handy husband rectifying a few issues:

Note the dashboard to the right:

Because of all the little 'extras', this last week was one of the toughest yet... We have had to re-think our daily schedules and tightened the reigns somewhat. At one in the morning on Thursday morning, Izak still had to complete a nine page paper and hadn't started his Hebrew homework yet! By God's grace, he managed to get the paper submitted by 4h30 that Thursday afternoon, but as far as we can help it, we really want to try and work harder to avoid anything like that happening again! We have worked out a new way to keep track of the schedule and tasks due and hopefully this will help smooth the workload and deadlines out!

We look forward to hearing from you! Thanks for all the encouragement and we hope you have enjoyed this book of a blog!

African Red Tea, Gas Stations and Sem Wives pics

2010-09-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I found Rooibos! Well, it is vanilla flavoured but it is still Rooibos! Here it is called Red bush... But looove the branding, it reminds me of Narnia...

Also, some of you have never seen how amazing the milk size is here! It is great and it has a long-life too which makes it really helpful. No more getting milk daily! Plus look at our great big bag of Californian raisins! :) Isn't that great when even raisins are a novelty!

Now, the other thing that is unusual is that we have to fill up our own cars with petrol. Now, the one amazing thing about this is that I have the most attractive petrol attendant and I don't feel that I need to tip him! hehe. (I do also intend to fill up from time to time...)

And that's the tank full of GAS! And we are on our way!

Now, everyone keeps talking about how it never rains here! And one morning, when it had been so hot before, we had some rain on the way to TMS- check it out: (You will get to see some of our drive to school with rain drops on the windscreen...)

My first official sem wives with the groups being revealed was this last week Wednesday. When we initially arrived, we had to find our name on lists on the wall and figure out what group we belong to. (It was stipulated as table numbers, since we all sit at a table with our specific groups.)
Here is when we first arrived and everyone was figuring out where they belonged:

The blonde lady in the image above's name is Whitney and she works in Ventura which is about an hour away and apparently it is a 'surf town' and so we will hopefully get to go and see it eventually! (Her husband also surfs and she said that we should go and see it with them sometime...)

Below, you get an idea of the room set-up for Sem wives, my table is to the front left.

In my previous blog post, I wrote that I missed butternut and guess what? A South African (also our group assistant leader) called Lynette Botes, read the post and then guess what she brought along for me?
How cool is this: (I felt so loved when she did this and it meant so much to me! How amazing is it that we can be so encouraging to others?)... She even wrote my name on it in case... other sneaky South Africans... Just kidding!

So the evening was coming to a start and a lady came to our table and sat next to me and I had no idea who she was! And she asked me where I was from... and I told her etc. Turns out she was Patricia MacArthur and I had no idea. I did fortunately eventually get it! (She mentioned to someone that her husband was going to share the message and I still didn't realise who she was!)

Our group leader is Mrs Cruygen, she is originally from South Africa and our group is full of international ladies.
Here are some group pics from the evening:
Here is me, Mrs MacArthur and Beatrix from Switzerland:

Here is a look at the table and the cupcakes that Lynette baked. Proper apples I tell ya! (They almost look convincing enough to be healthy!)

Then, MacArthur shared on how to support your husband in ministry and it was very encouraging, practical and helpful.

And finally, a group pic with Mrs Cruygen (on the left) and Mr & Mrs MacArthur...

Izak got his results back for the Hebrew exam and he did very well! We are so grateful to the Lord because it is only His provision with so little time on our hands. He also got his results for his assignment with Dr. Rosscup and he also did well on that paper. Once again, thank you for all your support, prayers and for all your encouragement. It means ALOT to us! Keep in touch!

South African rusks, Mexican Oaxaca (wä-hä'-ka) potato soup and lots of reading!

2010-09-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a fast week! It almost seems a blur!

Our little car was in desperate need of a service and so we got the details of this reasonable 'Oil change' business down the road! It was our little Dodge's first Bakkes service:

We are so grateful that besides getting the spark plugs replaced and something else minor replaced (the cap for something I can't remember now), everything seems to be in order. I especially enjoyed the way that Patrick's auto repair has a real car backseat in the place of a couch in the waiting room!

Now, I am sure that some of you are wondering what it is like to have a husband in seminary. Well, I have taken a few 'snapshots' of his life at home whilst at TMS so far:

Here we have him seeking refuge from my noisy exercise routine:

Then a little later: (See how he has grown in utilizing the space effectively!)

Then a little later, a change of scenery often helps to get the brain ticking:

And even later yet:

In the meantime, I have been experimenting in the kitchen! Here we have our first batch of South African rusks: (Our oven is a little warmer than I am used to and some may call them burnt, but I think that the more optimistic view would be that of 'slightly' toasty rusks.) I was going to share some with our landlords but now I may wait til the second batch! :)

Our landlord Pat is a school teacher in the LA inner city and she gets given free food parcels every second week and has been bringing some of the food for us too. She brought us apples, potatoes and carrots this last week. So considering our fresh produce and since we are in Los Angeles with lots of fun Mexican food in the stores, I thought I would try out a Mexican recipe.

Lenore gave us this cookbook recently and it has been helpful to have a book with ounces and Fahrenheit instead of grams and Celsius!

So, I went searching for a recipe and found one called Oaxaca (pronounced wä-hä'-ka) potato soup and we really enjoyed it. Here is a link to it online if you would like to try it out: http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html#17

And here is the soup served with tortilla chips and a dash of sour cream...(don't worry, the soup is made out of lots of veggies so the meal is not as unhealthy as it looks!)

We have the best landlords! Pat has her own vegetable garden and has been bringing us homegrown cherry tomatoes weekly: (I have never seen the yellow tomatoes before but Izak has...) The shape makes me miss butternut, I haven't found any here yet.

Speaking about gifts, we have also recently blessed with:

A Belgium waffle maker! (Izak's FAVOURITE and it works really well, we tested it to make sure!)

Then, I haven't had a phone for the last while because they don't really do SIM cards here, from what we can tell. If you do a prepaid SIM card, you end up paying for receiving calls and making them and it works out quite expensive and the call quality is not great. So we have only had one phone between the two of us. On Sunday, Bob and Lenore gave us a contract phone to use! The quality of the calls is a great deal better and we are grateful!

We still need to figure out how to add text messages to it or if we will just keep using the other phone for text messages...decisions! decisions!

This is the phone:

Overall, we are getting more used to things here and our little home is starting to feel more and more homey! One of my favourites is our fridge: (We have our crazy schedule on it as well as some of the Grace missionaries to remind us to pray for them.)

Note the multi-coloured schedule... Eek! It's a full week. (It's a good experience though.)

We are busy doing our second test week of Hebrew vocabulary. It's been good but challenging to retain the previous weeks vocab... Note the new flash cards:

Here is the close up of one of our workbook pages, so that you can read the word in transliteration form as well as the English translation and also the original Hebrew:

We are so encouraged by all your feedback! Keep it coming! You could even post us a picture if you like so that we could put you up on the fridge! (As you can see there is some more space.)